The Landmark public art programme was launched in April 2012.Percent for Art funds were carefully pooled to create a collection of commissions for a wide range of artists working in a number of art forms. Key to the thinking behind the programme was a desire to strategically commission works that would complement each other in the same environment, add value to each project and attract artists working at all levels, from emerging to well established.

Professional development for local artists and a desire to actively involve local people throughout the process was also of high importance in the planning of the programme. Gaynor Seville, Public Art Co-ordinator, who devised and is managing the programme, was keen that the funds available would not be treated as a plethora of disjointed individual commissions for unrelated sites and communities. One major site was identified, the area of Lough Lannagh in Castlebar, close to the heart of the county town, a naturally beautiful resource, but fairly hidden and underused. The curation of the project was also led by the knowledge that other physical improvements were to take place in the area, such as a new bridge, creating a circular walk around the lake, and new paving and walkways.

A series of commissions including two permanent artworks commissions, two temporary commissions, a residency project and two bursary programmes for emerging artists were developed and briefs prepared and advertised in 2010 with a well attended site visit taking place. An independent judging panel made up of arts expertise, both practicing artists and arts commissioners and managers, alongside community representation and local council expertise assessed the applications and selected the artists and proposals for the programme. All commissions culminated in a series of events and artwork launches in April 2012.

A professional development training programme for local artists, CONNECT, has also been developed to run alongside and compliment the commissions. This has been devised and developed by artist Aideen Barry in collaboration with Gaynor Seville. The first event in this series was a Fake Public Art Judging Panel. There was an overwhelming response to this initiative. See details and information on other networkinging events, seminar, workshops and the launch of an iphone App, artconnect, which will be a useful networking and information source for artists in the CONNECT section above.

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